FLEET REPORT
NEW MODELS SPUR DELIVERIES The global business aircraft fleet has grown to over 38,400 units, with North America being by far the largest market for the industry. BRIC countries, which were very promising only a few years ago, don’t show any sign of dynamic growth. The pre-owned aircraft market is good for sellers as the inventory for sale is near record-low levels, while the demand is high, reports Volker K. Thomalla
T
he data for this report provided by JetNet LLC, the leading provider of aviation market information, shows that in terms of business aircraft deliveries, 2019 has been a good year. Despite several challenges like the ongoing political and economic turmoil in Venezuela, the US and China trade dispute and delays in new aircraft types entering the market, the global business aircraft fleet grew by 1.73% from 37,792 units at the end of 2018 to 38,448 units on December 31st 2019. A year before, the growth rate was at 1.4% only. This fleet size incorporates 22,717 business jets (including 317
GROWTH
The global business aircraft fleet grew by 1.73% in 2019.
30 - BART: FEBRUARY - APRIL - 2020
TOP TEN BUSINESS FLEETS BY COUNTRY United States . . . . . . . . . .21339 Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1539 Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1414 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1359 Venezuela
. . . . . . . . . . . . .765
Germany
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .750
Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .628 United Kingdom . . . . . . . . .502 France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .450 China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .447
bizliners) and 15,731 turboprop aircraft. This fleet mix is stable and about the same as in previous years. JetNet’s market intelligence is the most comprehensive, commercially available survey on the market. The company invites each quarter a selected number of business aircraft operators to take part in the survey. About 500 are responding each quarter, which gives the researchers a sufficiently sized data base to analyze the market trends. 2019 has been a seller’s market. At the end of September 2019, 9.8 percent of the worldwide business jet fleet was up for sale. This number is even below the lowest pre-crisis level in November 2007. The highest number of preowned jets for sale ever recorded was in August 2009, when 17.7 percent of the fleet were on the market. Inventories of pre-owned business jets for sale have increased and are now headed to the 2,200 mark at 2,167 for sale. JetNet explains: “Historically, there has been a one-year lag in new business jet deliveries versus preowned sale transactions. However, we find ourselves on new ground, as used inventory levels were once correlated with new sales such that most new owners needed to sell their existing aircraft before a new delivery took place.
